Cricket News

30th January 2015

Wasim's first month

Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Chief Executive Wasim Khan MBE has been an extremely busy man and is loving every minute of his new job.

Wasim introduced himself to everybody at Grace Road following his appointment in October but did not officially move into his office until Monday, January 5th.

“It has been a fast-paced start to the new year,” he said. “I have been trying to get around to see as many people as I can and to get a real understanding as to how things work here.

“At the same time I am mindful that we need to be making progress quickly and moving things on. We have started to progress and we want to keep improving.

“I enjoyed meeting the players on their first day back and talking about the aspirations for the year. We are determined to lift ourselves after the last couple of years and I expect us to be a lot better this season.

“We have Andrew McDonald in as Head Coach and I know that he will make a massive difference to us. There is a real zest around the playing side and that will only help when Andrew and Clint McKay come in.”

To achieve the aims on the field this summer, Wasim would love people to sign up for membership for the 2015 season.

He said: “If ever there is a time that we need people’s support, it’s right now. Our membership is the best value in the country and we are looking at areas that we can improve such as providing better facilities and having an increased number of benefits.

“We want to inspire the next generation of Leicestershire supporters and our Charlie Fox and junior membership packages are outstanding value at £10 and £15 respectively. It allows our young fans to see every day of cricket, including all NatWest T20 Blast games.

“We would love to see the ground sold out for our first NatWest T20 Blast game against Derbyshire. We also have a NatWest T20 Blast Season Ticket returning for 2015, and a three-match ticket, so there are a number of incentives that will reduce costs for our fans.”

Brining in additional revenue will also help the club to strengthen the playing squad, which is something else that Wasim is keen to do.

He said: “We are delighted that Niall O’Brien agreed a contract extension with us and we are chatting to another couple of key players about extending their contracts here. We want to keep the squad together as well as adding to the squad.

“We are still looking for players and it’s important that we bring the right sort of player into the club. We want to bring in people who can bring us a lot of experience and quality to support our talented young players. They need to be the right fit of players for our club and our coaches are working hard to bring them in. It’s going to be an exciting year ahead. Spirits are high around the club and people are already looking forward to the new season.”